Moscow Times: Far-Right Europe Has a Crush on Moscow

[pampango]

Russian authorities have consistently expressed their disdain for broadly defined "fascism," promoting a collective identity based on the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. In an address to Russian lawmakers last March, Putin partly justified Russia's annexation of Crimea on the basis of the notion that authorities in Kiev were "nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes and anti-Semites," and that he would not leave Crimea's ethnic Russian population in the hands of such leaders.

It would seem counterintuitive that the Kremlin — with its vocal anti-fascist stance and its public disregard for right-wing politics — has been cozying up to Europe's far-right parties, including those of France, Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece. Le Pen and a number other leaders of right-wing parties, including Gabor Vona of Hungary's Jobbik and Volen Siderov of Bulgaria's Ataka, have visited Russia and met with high-ranking officials in recent years. Far-right parties in 15 out of 21 European Union member states have openly professed sympathy toward Russia, according to the Budapest-based Political Capital Institute.

What the Kremlin's ties to right-wing parties lack in ideological objectives, they make up for with similar views on public morality and the role of tradition in modern society, pundits said. Leaders of various European far-right parties have reiterated their support for Russia as a beacon of conservative Christian morality against rampant Western decadence.

Russia's crusade against what Putin referred to as the "destruction of traditional values" — which includes its stance against gay rights and its crackdown on illegal migration — is in part what draws France's National Front and other European far-right parties to it.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/far-right-europe-has-a-crush-on-moscow/511827.html

I've seen many articles in the Western about the links between Russia and the European far-right but this is the first article in the Russian press I have come across.

[Drunken Irishman]

1. Weird. So does far-right America.

[snooper2]

3. and some on the far left where the circle completes

[Blue_Tires]

2. Oh, plenty of useful idiots in the left and libertarian camps

love them some Putin, too...He's like Europe's Ron Paul when you look at his crossover appeal...

I guess it shouldn't be any surprise that Ron Paul himself is also a huge Putin fan...

[Brickbat]

4. I would find it difficult to describe the Moscow Times as part of the "Russian" press.

Currently owned by a Finnish corporation, the paper has its roots in western-style journalism and is staffed by a mix of Russians and expats.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Basically, if they border Russia, the far right is anti-Russia, otherwise they're for it

It's more or less a question of whether they are directly threatened by Russia.

The report: http://www.riskandforecast.com/useruploads/files/pc_flash_report_russian_connection.pdf

The anti-Russia far right parties are in Finland, Latvia and Romania (which does not have a border with Russia, but does have worries about Russia's support of Transnistria, which is a Russia-speaking area in Romanian-speaking Moldova. The Lithuanian far right does support Russia, and the Estonian far right is categorised as 'open', ie not committing itself. But on the whole, the far right in countries that don't fear a Russian invasion are pro-Russia.

[pampango]

6. That's a really informative study. Thanks for finding and posting it. n/t

[AverageJoe90]

7. Something I've suspected to be true for a LONG time, to be honest.

They hated the Soviet Union.....especially Gorbachev's.....but now they love Putin, the puppet of various resources barons and other unsavory elements of the wealthy, not just in Russia, but across Eurasia as a whole.....because he lets the anti-LGBT, and anti-liberal people in general, do pretty much whatever. And they LOVE that.

And unfortunately, there are too many well-meaning people who can't see that Putin isn't just letting the far-right run his country domestically, but he's letting his warhawks try to ruin the Ukraine as well.....